by Kenny Soward
WINDBURN
Weathering the Storm Series
Book 4
By
Kenny Soward
Mike Kraus
© 2019 Muonic Press Inc
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
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Special Thanks
Special thanks to my awesome beta team, without whom this book wouldn’t be nearly as great.
Thank you!
WEATHERING THE STORM Book 5
Available Here
Prologue
Last time on Weathering the Storm…
After leaving Lizzy’s place, Jake, Marcy, and the kids fled on their bicycles through the flooded streets of Boston to escape X-Gang. Jake tried to misdirect and confuse the gang by circling back through yards, but his efforts fell short. In a last-ditch attempt to elude the gang, Jake led Marcy and the kids through a side yard where he caught the faint scent of natural gas leaking from the home right next to them. X-Gang opened fire, accidentally igniting the open gas line and causing Jake, Marcy, and the kids to be hurled through the air. Other homes also exploded due to their weakened foundations and cracked gas lines.
As debris rained down all around them, Jake told Marcy and the kids to go on while he held off X-Gang until he was sure they had gotten clear. After a brutal fight where Jake was sorely wounded, he finally caught up with Marcy and the kids several blocks away, and the tired and injured group pedaled through the debris-littered streets until they found a construction site and hid inside a shipping container. As they recovered from the ordeal, Jake made supply runs that often put him in danger, the last one pitting him against a wild tiger that got free when the first storms decimated the Franklin Zoo. Escaping with his life, Jake returned to Marcy and the kids only to find that Hawk and Raven from X-Gang had tracked them to the shipping container.
After a brief struggle in which Alice bit Raven and Jake bloodied Hawk’s nose, the X-Gangers got the best of them. On his knees, at gunpoint, and at the end of his rope, Jake noticed a pair of yellow eyes glowing at them from the gloom. It was the tiger. Fearful, risking everything, Jake screamed at the tiger, hoping it would charge. The beast rushed in, drawn by Jake’s goading and the blood all over Hawk’s jacket, and attacked the X-Ganger. Raven tried to shoot the tiger, but Marcy pushed the woman into the beast, and it responded by slashing the X-Ganger’s face and chest.
As the tiger continued to attack the X-Gangers, Jake and Marcy searched for the kids, both of whom had escaped in the chaos. They found them near the road being held by a dozen strangers. Jake challenged the strangers, then one of them lifted her hood to reveal the face of Ashley from the Westin. With the help of Ashley and the rest of the Westin survivors, they formed a caravan of vehicles led by an excavator Jake hot-wired in the construction site parking lot, intent on clearing a path through the clogged city streets. Jake got better and better at using the excavator’s controls, and the huge machine became a beacon of hope for everyone in the caravan. The newly formed company of survivors fended off an attack by a band of raiders, proving themselves to be a capable force. They were finally left alone to continue their trek through the desolate city.
Back in Tennessee, Sara tried to establish some sense of order for her family and new friends against the dangerous weather and the clear indications that the United States was sliding further and further into chaos. Mike (from the Mike Report) encouraged her to go out and help their neighbors, though Sara decided to play it safe. Little did she know her son, Todd, had been reading her emails and knew how bad things really were out in the world. Much to Sara’s shock and surprise, she woke up one morning to find that Todd had left them to go help in the greater fight.
Distraught and fearful for his safety, Sara had no choice but to stay and protect the cabin, and when Todd came home a day later with a bullet-ridden vehicle and an injured man named Tex in the back, she was angry with him though grateful he was alive. Natasha patched Tex up, declaring he still needed blood, so Todd volunteered to get blood transfusion supplies from a nearby urgent facility called Trailmarker’s. Unable to stop him, Sara allowed Todd to embark on a mission to get the much-needed supplies, but after twelve hours with no word from Todd, Sara began to worry. One of Todd’s friends, a man from the Good Folk militia named Steven, drove to the top of Pine Bluff Mountain to tell Sara that Todd and some other Good Folk were trapped inside Trailmarker’s by local raiders who wanted to steal the coveted supplies. Sara cautiously befriended Steven, and they plotted to free Todd and anyone else at Trailmarker’s Urgent Care.
And now, Weathering the Storm 4.
Chapter 1
Sara, Gatlinburg, Tennessee | 7:12 a.m., Thursday
Dion drove the Subaru along the dangerous Tennessee mountain roads with both hands on the wheel and his shoulders tensed. Sara held her rifle in her lap, the barrel pointed at the floor. The AR-15 was loaded with powerful .223 rounds, and her magazine held thirty of them. It wasn’t a gun she normally used, although she felt it was necessary in this situation. If she was going to exchange fire with someone, she didn’t want it to be handguns with only ten or twenty yards between herself and the person returning fire. She’d rather engage them from a distance if possible.
Still, her Beretta rested in its holster on her belt, and a seven-inch knife was strapped to her calf. Sara glanced back to see Steven sitting calmly with his rifle laying across his lap as he gazed out at the passing trees.
“You look way too calm,” Sara said.
“Like I said.” Steven’s blue eyes flashed over to Sara. “The best thing to do is not think about it at all. The violence will find us soon enough, so no sense in dwelling on it. It’ll only make you freeze up when the shooting starts.”
Sara nodded and shifted her eyes out the window as they turned on to Manis Hollow Road. The road was narrow, barely enough space for two cars to pass each other. A high bank rose on the right, directing water down across the road and into the lower gully on their left.
Dion’s rain driving had improved after his experiences on Pine Bluff Road. He angled the car right whenever they came across a heavy flow deeper
than a few inches, enabling the car to stay on the road as it moved ahead at a good clip.
The bank eventually rose on their left as well, helping to funnel all the rain onto the road, and soon they were driving through a foot of water, spraying it up on both sides like a boat cutting across a lake. They approached a house with green siding and shingles on their left. Its roof had collapsed, and the contents of the home floated around it like so many forgotten things. An old camper and several cars had been jammed up against the house, and Dion had to slow down and move carefully around the debris using the sliver of road that remained to him.
Sara’s eyes moved up the left bank to see a second, smaller home set into the hill. It was untouched by the water, and several families stood on the porch and watched with slack faces as the Subaru cut through their floating possessions
“That’s rough,” Sara said, swallowing hard. Her heart went out to those people, and if she hadn’t been so desperate to get her son back, she would have stopped to help them.
“There’s thousands of families just like that,” Steven said. “All over the Tennessee Valley. Some worse off than the ones you just saw. They don’t have so much as a roof over their heads.”
“There’s at least ten cabins on Pine Bluff Road. We can relocate a few families up there.” Sara instantly regretted her words, because if people started filling up those cabins, that meant they would need food as well. And Sara didn’t have enough to feed an entire community. She had to be very careful about what she promised, to herself and to others.
“Let’s just focus on getting Todd back,” Steven said, and Sara was thankful he’d changed the subject.
They passed more situations similar to the first one. Homes washed out. Debris strewn across the road. Tents and tarps placed higher on the hill where families had retreated from the flooding.
At one point, the road was so bad that Sara wondered if they could even reach Todd, much less save him. However, Dion proved a worthy driver, and the Subaru was tough in the extreme weather. The trees on their right suddenly gave way to a wide-open field, flooded to the size of a lake with a road branching off of it.
“Turn right here,” Steven said, leaning forward in the seat and pointing. “That’s Powdermill Road.”
Dion nodded and turned the Subaru carefully through the flooded intersection and onto Powdermill, which they followed for another two miles. Sara noticed some fancier homes up in the hills. Large lodges with thick timber sides, wide porches, and fronts decked out with fabulous displays of glasswork.
“Those people probably don’t need saving,” Sara pointed out, turning her eyes back to the road.
“We check on them anyway,” Steven replied with a grim expression. “No one’s immune to what’s happening here. Rich or poor. Some of those folks are opening up their homes to others. Still, a lot of people are too proud to ask for help.”
Sara only nodded as they continued, feeling slightly embarrassed at her assumptions about those living high up on the hill.
Ten minutes later, they reached Glades Road. The intersection was the home of a statuary, a woodcraft shop, several antique shops, and some old country restaurants, all of them sitting low enough off the road that were flooded under several feet of water.
“Turn left here.” Steven pointed.
As Dion turned the Subaru left onto Glades, Sara couldn’t take her eyes off the shops’ destruction. Down in the lowest part, the water swirled gently, and there were several bodies floating amidst the detritus.
“What a mess,” she said, shaking her head.
“Eyes ahead, Sara,” Steven said. “Just a couple more miles to go. I figure we should be able to contact Todd soon, so get your radio ready. We use channel six, but they’re probably monitoring that one.”
“That’s fine,” Sara said. “I worked out some backup channels with Todd and Dion.”
Two miles later, Steven told Dion to slow down, and they crept past a building on their left with a sign that read “Gatlinburg’s Little Log Wedding Chapel” next to what appeared to be a sheltered camping area.
As they drove by, Steven clutched Dion’s shoulder. “Turn left at the next road up and then pull off the first chance you get. We’ll walk from there.”
Dion nodded, pulling left into a narrow side road before he found a circular turnaround and pulled the Subaru into it. He put the vehicle in park and then turned it off with a sigh. Sara pulled the passenger side door handle and got out, followed by Steven.
Dion stayed inside the vehicle with a two-way radio in his lap.
“What are the alternate channels?” Sara quizzed him as she checked her weapons.
“First alternate is channel seven,” Dion said, thinking through the instructions she’d gone over with him at the cabin. “If you call a switch, I turn to twenty-one. And the third alternate is the first numeral of the next channel you call out. So, if you call out channel thirty-three, I switch to three.”
“Correct,” Sara nodded, satisfied he’d remembered. Then she lifted her eyes to Steven, who was coming around the car. “We’re going over that hill to the east, right?”
“That’s right,” Steven said, gazing up at the thick-forested slope rising from their position. “Once we get to the top of this hill, we’ll have the high ground. We’ll come down, approaching from the Antler Bar and Grill side. We can use the building for cover.”
“Okay, let’s call Todd.” Sara lifted her two-way radio, already tuned to channel seven, and pressed the talk button. “Mom to Todd. Are you there? I repeat, Mom to Todd.”
There was nothing for a few long seconds, and then Todd’s voice came over the radio. “Mom, is that you?”
“It sure is, honey.” Sara stifled a smile. “You still have company over there?”
“Three party crashers out front,” Todd replied, though Sara detected a note of pain in his voice. “And the next-door neighbors are partying.”
Sara didn’t know what that meant, though Steven grinned when he heard the news.
“Are you nearby, Mom?”
She wanted to ask him if he was injured or in pain, though Sara forced herself to remain on topic. “We’re nearby. All fifteen of us. We’ve got the place surrounded.” Sara lifted her eyes to Steven, and he nodded his approval of her lie. If anyone was listening, she wanted to make sure they were ill informed about their numbers and position. “Can you be ready for a quarterback keeper when we snap the ball? Straight up the middle.”
“Quarterback keeper, on your signal,” Todd confirmed. “Got it.”
There was really nothing special about the football play call. She only wanted Todd to be ready when the bullets started flying.
“Hang in there, son. This is Mom, out.” Sara turned the radio volume to low and slipped it inside her jacket pocket. Then she leaned down to peer at Dion. “Stay alert and wait for our signal.”
“I’ll get the car turned around and be ready,” Dion acknowledged.
Sara nodded, shut the passenger side door, and went over to Steven. The man’s light blue eyes had turned cold and hard, although she detected a hint of amusement in them.
“What did Todd mean when he said the neighbors were partying?”
“It means those yahoos found the booze inside the Antler.” Steven’s grin grew wide and mischievous. “Most of them are probably sidled up to the bar and three sheets to the wind by now.”
“That’s good for us, right?” Sara felt her hope rise for the first time all morning.
“Yes, it is. Are you ready, Sara?”
Sara turned toward the hill and hugged her weapon close to her body. A chill of fear ran up her spine, though she forced it down and thought about the danger her son was in, and the fact that he’d sounded injured over the radio. That was all the motivation she needed. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter 2
Sara, Gatlinburg, Tennessee | 7:58 a.m., Thursday
Sara and Steven marched up the first big hill with Steven
leading the way. Sara was careful, keeping the barrel of her rifle pointed down and her eyes looking forward over Steven’s shoulder. She glanced down every few steps to check her footing as they wove between the hardwood trees, hiking up and up until her thighs began to burn from the strain.
The slowly growing gloom was the morning’s sad hello, and the gray clouds and constant dripping rain gave Sara no reason to think the sun would shine anytime soon. Yet, her day would brighten considerably if she could get her son out of this mess and back to the cabin.
In some parts of the forest, the underbrush was thick and wilted with runoff, while other spots were bare and muddy. They stepped over shallow gullies where tiny rivers flowed, and Sara’s breath puffed gray in the chill.
They crested the top of the hill, and Sara gazed down across a shallow valley to another shorter hill.
Steven stopped behind a large oak tree and peered down. “The Antler will be over the next hill, and Trailmarker’s beyond that. We’ll want to be extra quiet from here on out.”
“Got it,” Sara replied, following his eyes along the hill. “Are you expecting a lookout?”
Steven shook his head. “Who knows? We just need to keep low and stay smart.”
Sara nodded, stepped around the oak, and quickened her pace across the patch of level ground. Steven caught up, and together they trudged to the top of the smaller hill. Sara’s heart pounded in fear, and her arms shook holding her rifle. The weapon felt like it weighed fifty pounds as she raised the barrel to sweep the crest of the hill in the event there was a lookout posted.
Not seeing anyone, Sara and Steven breached the top of the hill and hunkered down behind a pair of thick trees standing close together. Steven peeked around his tree and then pointed down the hill with a grin.
